Peters preps for Valley Brook Road ramp closure

Published May 14, 2013 at 8:53 am
(Updated May 14, 2013 at 8:53 am)

Council members in Peters Township discussed interim traffic controls at several locations to help control traffic when the Valley Brook Road ramp leading to Washington Road closes May 22. Council voted 6-1 at its May 13 meeting to install one additional stop sign at the intersection of Rock Run Road southbound and Proffer Road. The sign will supplement the stop sign currently on Proffer. Council President Frank Arcuri voted against the stop sign. The stop sign at Rock Run and Proffer Road was not the only interim measure proposed by township administration to help control traffic.

Township Manager Michael Silvestri also proposed an additional stop sign along Gallery Drive northbound at the entrance to the shopping center, which would have supplemented the two existing stop signs and one eastbound facing South Hills Bible Chapel. Silvestri also proposed a stop sign on Stonebrook Drive facing Hoover Lane, supplementing two existing signs. However, motions to approve those additional interim stop signs failed.

Prior to the vote, Silvestri said the administration looked at about 10 different locations where interim traffic controls may be needed during the Valley Brook closure. “These were the ones needed initially,” he said, prior to council’s vote.

Councilman David Ball suggested waiting until the closure occurs to see where the stop signs will be needed. The official detour for the project will be posted and uses Mayview, Boyce and McMurray Roads, but township officials see residents using back roads as their own detours.

Councilman James Berquist suggested installing all of the signs and then perhaps removing them if they are not needed, adding that the additional stop signs put in place during the Bebout Road closure were “very effective.”

In other business, council voted unanimously to authorize the clean-up of a property located at 451 Bower Hill Road, referred to as the Marcella Yanniello property. Councilwoman Monica Merrell said the site may be one of the only buildings in Peters that is an “historical Peters Township building.”

Township officials said there have been complaints about the condition of the building, which is across from Bower Hill Elementary School, and the dangerous conditions it may pose. The motion to clean up and lien the property passed 7-0.